The next morning, as we’re eating breakfast (or at least, my friends and I are eating breakfast, and Vastarie is a lich who doesn’t eat and is chatting with us like she’s been socially starved for a century), Vastarie asks a favor of us to check in on her husband. She has a lot of work cut out for her in cleaning and making repairs, or she’d come herself, but I read between the lines in that she’s hesitant about seeing her husband again but this is necessary because she apparently put him in ‘time-out’ for what was supposed to be a decade after they had an argument about something and now it’s been a century. I get the feeling their relationship is complicated.

We had a brief talk about souls and how important it was for me to get mine back (I’m not sure how she could tell but I guess that’s kind of her area of expertise), and also she noticed me go out to ‘pray’ at the shrine last night but gave me my privacy (because ‘praying’ was totally what I was doing). Even after being trapped for almost a century, she’s still quite faithful to Azura and she gives me a little speech about Azura’s love and I hastily extricate myself with an excuse in having to get ready to travel. That’s probably unfair to her, but I’m not ready to talk about this yet.

The location she gives us looks to be between the wayshrines near Brackenleaf and the one at the Elden Root temple, so we decide to just not bother with the wayshrines and walk there, smashing another Dark Anchor along the way. Nobody argues about this particular detour, again nowhere near where we’re supposed to be.

As we approach the ruin in question, we spot a wounded mer, and Gelur runs up to heal him.

“Oh, stars bless you, traveler,” he says. “But you should turn back now. It’s dangerous ahead. The undead walk!”

“What happened?” I ask, helping him to his feet.

“We’re with the Mages Guild,” he explains. “We were on an expedition, uncovering relics from the ruins, but we must have woken something up!”

“Is Telenger here?” Merry asks in a strained voice.

“No, more’s the pity. Maybe he could have done something about this. Andewen’s in charge of this expedition. And there’s still people trapped inside, probably wounded. If I don’t do something, they’re done for. I’ll probably be alright now with your healing, but I’m still weak.”

“We’re adventurers,” I say, pulling out my journal to look up the name ‘Andewen’ to see if I’ve met her before. “We can fight undead, no problem. We’ll go find them and rescue them. Ah, Andewen, yes, I encountered her on Auridon. And now she’s here and in trouble again.”

The ruins are full of angry ghosts, and we fight our way through them to find the mages held with translucent purple chains.

One of the mages we rescue tells us about how some Dominion soldiers showed up and made demands about their findings, and insisted they work faster without their usual safeguards (which frequently wind up getting them in trouble anyway). They’d found some weird bone scepter and one of the soldiers grabbed it.

The rescued mages lead us back to their base camp, which is guarded by what looks like the Dominion soldiers in question (some of them wounded, who Gelur heals). And as it turns out, their orders came from one General Endare and that they’d been sent here from their garrison in Haven. The lieutenant (Urien) seems quite shocked that Haven was attacked by pirates almost immediately after they left.

Andewen recognizes me when I approach and is visibly relieved. “Neralion! Oh, I’m glad to see you here. Maybe you can do something about this mess like you helped at Ezduiin. And you’ve brought backup, too! Did you receive our message for help, or did you just stumble in here by chance?”

“Neither,” I say. “Vastarie sent us to check in on Telacar and make sure nothing stupid was going on. I think this counts as something stupid.”

“His wife is around here?” Andewen asks. “What is she doing here?”

“She helped us to close a gateway to Coldharbour,” I say. “Long story. I’ll tell you about it once I’ve dealt with these shades. Kelly mentioned you’d found a bone rod?”

“My name is Kelurmend!” the bald Altmer we’d rescued protests.

“Don’t complain,” Merry puts in. “He calls me Merry.”

Andewen gestures to her pack, and explains how the shades appeared when someone picked up the scepter, and that it’s engraved with Ayleid writing meaning ‘pale sentinel’ which might refer to a pale sentinel near the center of the ruins, which talked, or at least whined. No one seems to have been brave enough to try actually doing anything with it, probably for fear of making things worse somehow, so I take the scepter and try to locate the shade in question.

We find him, alright. He speaks with the voice of a boy and possesses a corpse to attack us, so I wave the scepter at him. He freaks out about this and begs us not to wake Telacar.

“I was trying to escape, but if he wakes, I’ll be trapped forever!” he wails.

“I’ve generally found that ‘forever’ rarely has to be,” I say. “Look, Vastarie sent us…”

“Really?” the ghost exclaims cheerfully. “You’ve met her? Where is she? Maybe I can visit once I’m free!”

“She’s at her tower north of Elden Root,” I say. “She was trapped for a long time but we were able to free her.”

“Maybe that’s why the sparkly door isn’t so sparkly anymore!” the ghost says, then explains that we need to find her book and a bunch of glowy things in order to keep Telacar trapped.

“I think she meant us to free him if he’s been behaving himself,” I say. “But if he’s been misbehaving I’m sure she’ll agree that we had to make sure he stayed locked up.”

The ghost directs us to places he calls the ‘moaning room’, ‘smelly room’, and ‘forbidden room’ to get glowy things, leaving Merry muttering something about that these sound like names I’d give things.

We made our way past some more angry shades and find Vastarie’s journal. She hadn’t given too many details about what we ought to do or why this came about, so I read it and discover the truth. This friendly child ghost that’s been following us around? Their son, Calion, who died an untimely death and Telacar couldn’t bear to lose. Telacar bound the boy’s spirit into a flesh golem and then wondered why Vastarie was horrified.

I sigh and rub my forehead. “Well. She could have mentioned why she locked him up, but… yeah, let’s see what we can do here. Do you think Telacar has learned the error of his ways yet?”

“Not a chance,” Calion’s ghost says. “He still wouldn’t let me escape! I just want to go and not be trapped here forever.”

“You won’t be trapped here, no matter what happens,” I say. “If we can’t make things work here, we’ll go and get Vastarie and she’ll fix things somehow.”

For all that this is an old Ayleid ruin, the place is well-furnished with bookcases, tables, and beds, with rugs spread across the floor. It looks like it might have been a nice home once, before this happy couple lost their son and one of them proved to be not the sort who could handle grief. Surely the child would have gone to Aetherius… but his parents are undying liches and probably intend to never go there themselves if they can help it.

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Under Calion’s direction, we collect the old skull, the glowy vial, and the milky rock (as he describes them, as I might have described them). We take them to the constellation room, where there are images of the twelve constellations on the walls. I’m apparently supposed to place these items in specific places, but where? I puzzle over it a bit until Ilara, taking a look at Vastarie’s journal, points out that last entry has some unusual capitalization, hinting at what should be done.

Far from making anything start sparkling again, a projection appears demanding to know why we’ve invaded his home. It would appear Telacar isn’t actually asleep after all. Transparent chains appear around the ghost, holding him in place.

“Vastarie sent us,” I explain for the third time. “Telacar, I presume?”

“What, she wouldn’t come herself?” Telacar asks. “Did she send you to renew the wards? Because they haven’t been able to hold me for some time.”

“No, not exactly,” I say. “She just sent us to check on you. I think she actually meant to release you, as she hadn’t intended to keep you trapped for so long. Circumstances led to her being trapped in an Ayleid ruin after a winged twilight betrayed her to Molag Bal. Once we freed her and took care of the situation, the first thing she did was send us to you.”

“Oh…” Telacar says, deflating. Whatever he might have expected to hear, that wasn’t it. “Has she reconsidered, then? I’ve been continuing my research. I believe I finally have it. I can restore our son!”

“No!” the child ghost shrieks. “Don’t let him do this to me!”

“I don’t think she would have wished you to do anything to your son that he’s screaming and begging you not to,” I say.

“He’s afraid and doesn’t understand,” Telacar says. “He’s only a fraction of himself.”

“Please, it hurts!” Calion cries.

“How exactly can you stand hearing even a fraction of your son weeping in pain?” Eran says. “I don’t claim to know anything about this sort of magic, but this is horrible!”

“Small-minded fool,” Telacar mutters. “I don’t wish to hurt this creature. If I had my scepter, I could restore him properly and make him whole again.”

“I don’t want to be a monster again!” Calion exclaims.

I sigh, and say softly, “Let him go, Telacar. Can’t you see he’s suffering? It’s not like you even need to bind a ghost if it wants to stay in the world for a while, but when he does decide to move on, would you really deny your son the paradise he deserves? Nirn is violence and hardship, and while that’s the sort of thing I like, and you might, it may not be what he wants. You’d been so focused on what you want, even if it causes your son suffering and drives your beloved wife away. She still loves you, Telacar. I know she does. Don’t you want to reconcile with her?”

“Yes, I do!” Telacar exclaims. “And once I’ve convinced her, we can be a family again, us three!”

“Are you even listening to him?” Ilara hisses.

Now I can see why she sent us. She was afraid of this and didn’t want to see the people she loved—loves—reduced to this. I can sympathize with one’s spouse turning out to be not the person you thought they were. How can I get through to him where Vastarie failed? If she were here, would this just have devolved into another argument that resulted in her sealing him away again?

“Telacar,” I say. “You’re not going to convince her. It’s horrible to bind someone like this against their will even if you think it’s for their own good. Listen to your son for once and don’t just assume that his screams of torment are just because he’s confused. You say you don’t want to hurt him, then quit hurting him.”

Telacar’s projection stares at me for a long moment, then he sighs the chains around the ghost loosen and he stops screaming. “It was… difficult to listen to that, at first. I kept telling myself I could fix this, though…”

“I just want to leave,” the child ghost says. “You’ve hurt me so much and I’ve been trying and trying to escape.”

“Is it worth bringing back your son if you have to control him in order to keep him from wanting to get away from you?” I ask. “Is it worth alienating your wife?” I shake my head. “Necromancers don’t need to be putting together cults and causing problems for people, like Mannimarco is doing, in order for people to think they’re doing bad things. While some of that is people being judgmental, what does it say when people you care about disagree with it?”

“I never wanted her to hate me,” Telacar says. “We parted ways from Mannimarco and his teachings. We wanted to be different from him. I’ve sunk so much time and effort into this that it feels like if I fail and give up or let go, then it has all just been a waste. But I’ll never reconcile with my wife if I don’t let it go…”

“Sometimes the most difficult thing in the world is to apologize,” I say softly. “Your pride doesn’t want to admit you were wrong. But the person who can admit when they’re wrong is actually stronger than one who stubbornly clings to their own certainty. It takes great courage and strength of character to apologize.”

“I should apologize to my wife,” Telacar says. “I should apologize to my son. Calion, oh Calion, I only ever wanted to help you. I thought, like setting a bone or lancing a sore, it would hurt for a moment but then it would be better. But it never would have been better, would it? I regretted your death, and you never having had a chance to grow up. But that I couldn’t let go… was my own failing, not yours, and for that, I am truly sorry. I don’t know that you can ever forgive me, but you deserve better than I’m capable of giving you.”

Telacar makes some gestures, and the ghost spins stretches, then spins about in a circle.

“I’m free!” Calion exclaims, then turns to me. “Thank you. I didn’t think it was even possible to convince him! But now I’m going to go far from here. I don’t want to ever see this place again. It makes me think of bad things and hurting. I think I’ll go visit my mother, if I can. Bye!” He zips away and vanishes.

Telacar sighs. “I suppose it was worth it just to hear him actually sounding happy again, even for a moment.”

“You did the right thing, Telacar,” Merry reassures him.

“I should pry my bones out of that chair and go to see my wife,” Telacar says. “I’ve been in here for so long, even after I broke through the ward and could have left anytime I wanted.”

“Ah, yeah, there’s one other matter,” I say. “The Mages Guild are here trying to excavate the ruins. Archaeology stuff. I don’t think they realized someone was still living here and your shades attacked them in defense. Shall I tell them to go away?”

“Please do,” Telacar says. “I’ll call off the shades, but I don’t want anyone pawing through my belongings. Bah, they were probably just looking for Ayleid trinkets, weren’t they? Tell them I’ll graciously donate some junk I don’t want anymore if they leave me alone.”

Telacar’s projection vanishes, and we make our way back to the surface.

“Sometimes I feel like people capitulate just because they think you’re going to keep standing there talking at them until they give up,” Eran says.

“I didn’t think you’d be able to talk that old necromancer into anything!” Gelur says. “I thought for sure we’d have to be hitting him in the face before the day was done.”

“I’m just impressed that you didn’t call him ‘Telly’,” Merry says.

“Contrary to what it might seem like sometimes, I don’t always go out of my way to annoy everyone around me.”

We return to the mages’ camp, and the shades outside have already gone passive and are starting to fade away.

“I don’t know what you did, but it looks like the shades have stopped trying to attack the camp,” the lieutenant (whatever her name was) says. “We’ll wait until they’re gone before resuming the dig.”

“The dig will not be resuming,” I say.

“What’s going on?” Andewen asks, coming up to us. “What did you do?”

“Telacar kindly requests that you not invade his home and steal his belongings,” I say.

Andewen blinks in surprise. “The necromancer!? He’s still alive in there? By Auri-El, are we in danger here?”

“No,” I say. “If I thought he were actually likely to attack you, I’d have hit him until he reconsidered that course of action.”

“But he did attack us,” Andewen says. “Those shades came out of the ground and hurt people.”

“They were an automated defense that got tripped,” I say. “He called them off as soon as I told him you were out here.”

“He… did?” Andewen looks puzzled. “But, I was told he was an evil necromancer, and Mannimaro’s greatest pupil.”

I sigh. “They say that, don’t they? He and his wife Vastarie rejected Mannimarco’s teachings. Telacar’s been holed up here trying to find a way to heal their son, not putting together a cult and invading anywhere.”

“Oh…” Andewen says. “I had no idea. Maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to listen to rumors and make assumptions, then. I wouldn’t have even come to this dig if I’d realized.”

“Oh yeah, Telacar also said that he’d donate some artifacts he didn’t want to the Mages Guild,” I say. “That was generous of him. He’ll probably be out shortly once he gets his things in order.”

“Really!?” Andewen’s expression seems torn between panic and excitement.

“We ought to be heading back to report in with Vastarie,” I say. “You know, Valenwood is so much harder to walk through than Auridon.”

“I definitely feel that,” Andewen says. “I’ve never seen so many overly aggressive plants in my life.”